1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to bulk material boxes and, more specifically, to reinforced corrugated flatboard boxes for shipping and storing bags with material such as premixed drywall joint compound also referred to as mud used for drywall installation.
2. Description of Related Art
Moist or wet compounds such as mud used for drywall installations are often shipped in small volumes such as three to five gallon portions. These small volumes of compound are packaged in a plastic bag and housed within a paperboard container or box to protect the bag from puncture or compression and to facilitate the shipping, storage, and use of the compound. The box and bag may be opened, reopened and the mud removed in smaller quantities and often at different periods in time. The box includes flaps that open and close to provide access to the mud in the bag.
Boxes that have been specially designed to enclose and transport these bags usually are six sided boxes folded from one or more sheets or blanks made of corrugated paper having flaps that folded and glued together. The boxes usually have bottom and top walls that are formed from the overlap of major and minor flaps, and the box is usually constructed from blanks that fold flat for storage and shipment.
Reinforcing flanges have been used to add considerable structural support to the box. Tops of the box often have flaps that open up and away from the four sides of the box to allow opening the plastic bag and accessing the mud inside the bag. The bag may be folded back over an edge or perimeter of the box to further facilitate the removal of portions of the mud.
It is desirable to have boxes with sufficient structural support for stacking and shipping of the box and its contents during warehousing and distribution and still provide good access to the bag and its contents. It is desirable to have boxes constructed so they can be stacked in different orientations and have structural stability. It is desirable to have a box that allows for repeatable opening and closing of the bag and its contents and retain its structural integrity after the box has first been opened and compound material removed from the plastic bag. It is desirable to have a box that has few parts so that it is easy to store ship and assemble. It is desirable to produce a stronger and more cost effective box for shipping compound filled bags that has greater stacking strength than boxes presently being used so that the boxes may be stacked for shipping and storage and display.